Monarch butterfly populations are in serious decline due to climate change and the use of harmful pesticides which are wiping out the crucial food sources along their migratory paths. As a valuable Citizen Scientist, you can contribute to this tracker by reporting Monarch butterfly activity in your area. Here is a link to report what you see. If you are located along their path, here are some things you can do to help them:

And it’s not only Monarch butterflies whose numbers are declining. For many of the same reasons, other pollinators, like bees, are experiencing serious declines in their populations as well. I used the chart below last year and we couldn’t believe how many bees and butterflies made their home in our garden. It quickly got to the point that I had to wait until dark to water and shore up the flowers (they were bending over with the weight of the insects!) because there were too many busy critters during the day getting pretty angry with me. And when I’d buy more flowers, the bees would literally swarm into my car while I was taking the new plants out. It was insane. But in a good way.